Combined Flow-thru Facial Recognition For Mass Spectator Event Entry and Item Fulfillment System and Method

ABSTRACT

A contactless system and method for mass attendee event venue entry and item delivery system for facilitating expeditious and controlled entry of an influx of people to the event without overwhelming event venue employees or resources. A digital entry image of a person is taken by a camera ( 106 ) as the person moves through a photo zone ( 124 ). The digital entry image is compared using facial recognition technology with a stored profile image of the person to identify the person and confirm authorized entry into the event without the need for the person to present a ticket or pass for the particular event. Procurement and delivery of any item pre-selected by the person directly to the person&#39;s allocated seating may be confirmed using the same facial recognition image comparison used to confirm authorized entry of the person into the event venue.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.17/727,862, filed Apr. 25, 2022, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 63/325,055, filed Mar. 29, 2022, the entirecontents of each being incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to improvements in systems and methodsfor facilitating expeditious and controlled entry of an influx of peopleto a mass attendee event without overwhelming event venue employees,while at the same time providing for procurement and delivery of one ormore items to a person confirmed as authorized to enter the event to theperson's location within the event.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Event security has been a major problem at major mass attendance events,such as sporting events. Unruly fans, or even those with a criminalbackground or history for violence, have been known to enter largesporting event venues and cause problems, ruining a fan experience formany who are present to just enjoy a game or match. Another problem isthat sporting event venues have to employ a large amount of people tovisually check each ticket (electronic or physical) for each and everyperson entering the venue to ensure the person entering is authorized toenter. This results in a large expense for operators of the sportingevent venue. For example, a large influx of event day spectators mayoverwhelm the limited number of venue volunteers or employees,increasing pressure on the volunteers or employees to rush the entryprocess so that spectators may get to their seat on time. Venueoperators have to guess as to how many spectators might attend, andattempt to plan accordingly. Often times, this leads to not havingenough resources, or having too many resources that then go to wastewhen less than estimated numbers of spectators show up.

A further problem, from the fan perspective, is having to wait in a longline or queue while the person simply wants to go to their seat, sitdown and enjoy the game, match or sporting event. An importantconsideration is to then get the person to their allocated seat orlocation in an expeditious and efficient manner, with minimal delay.This fan-perspective problem is also present when the fan wants toobtain a food or beverage item during a break in the game/match, butagain might have to contend with long lines, and potentially miss acritical moment in the game/match due to delays in getting back to thefan's seat.

What is needed is a system and method that renders the mass attendanceevent entry process and event attendance more efficient and fulfillingwhile minimalizing potential for errors.

SUMMARY

In a preferred aspect, the present disclosure sets forth a system orplatform for contactless mass spectator event venue entry and itemdelivery for facilitating expeditious and controlled entry of an influxof people to the spectator event without overwhelming event venueemployees. The system includes at least one side barrier configured toguide people from a venue entry point towards a photo zone leading to alimited-access area of the spectator event. The system further includesa camera configured to capture a pass-through image of a person as theymove through the photo zone, and a user image database configured tostore a profile image of the person prior to commencement of the event.The system further includes a processor configured to: compare theprofile image stored in the user image database with the pass-throughimage of the person captured by the camera using facial recognitiontechnology; determine whether the person is an authorized entrant asthey move through the photo zone based on the comparison between theprofile image and the pass-through image; and concurrently issue an itempreparation instruction for preparation and delivery of the itemdirectly to the person at an allocated event seating of the personwithin the event venue, based on the same comparison between the profileimage and the pass-through image used to determine authorized evententry.

In a further preferred aspect, the present disclosure sets forth amethod for contactless mass spectator event venue entry and itemdelivery for facilitating expeditious and controlled entry of an influxof people to the spectator event without overwhelming event venueemployees. The method includes guiding a plurality of people through aguided entry way from a venue entry point towards a photo zone; takingat least one pass-through image of a person as the person moves throughthe photo zone; conducting a facial recognition comparison of thepass-through image of the person with a personal profile image of theperson contained in a personal profile associated with person, thepersonal profile including a pre-authorization for event entry, and datafields for item procurement and item delivery directly to the person atan allocated seating of the person after the person enters the venue;confirming entry of the person upon successful identification of theperson through the facial recognition comparison of the pass-throughimage and the profile image, and review of the personal profileassociated with the person attempting to gain entry to the venue; andconcurrently issuing an instruction for delivery of any item selected bythe person prior to entry of the person through the photo zone.

As used herein, “configured” includes creating, changing, or modifying aprogram on a computer or network of computers so that the computer ornetwork of computers behave according to a set of instructions. Theprogramming to accomplish the various embodiments described herein willbe apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art after reviewing thepresent specification, and for simplicity, is not detailed herein. Theprogramming may be stored on a computer readable medium, such as, butnot limited to, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium (forexample, hard disk, RAM, ROM, CD-ROM, USB memory stick, or otherphysical device), and/or the Cloud. The system may be implemented on afield-programmable gate array and graphics processing unit.

It will be appreciated that in one or more embodiments, the system mayinclude one or more workstations at a back end for use by a platformoperator, one or more local client computers for access by users, and acommunications network that facilitates communication between theplatform, the workstations at the back end, and the client computers.Preferably, the workstations and client computers will include a displayand means for entering information, such as a Graphic User Interface(GUI), a keyboard and/or voice activated data entry. Means for accessingthe platform by users may include, but are not limited to personalcomputers and mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones, and otheruser devices capable of communicating over a communications networkutilizing the Internet.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory onlyand are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed, unless otherwisestated. In the present specification and claims, the word “comprising”and its derivatives including “comprises” and “comprise” include each ofthe stated integers, but does not exclude the inclusion of one or morefurther integers. The claims as filed with this application are herebyincorporated by reference in the description.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of theinvention and together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of one or more forms of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a diagram of system components in accordance with anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2A is front perspective view of a guided entry way to a photo zonewhere one or more nearby cameras take one or more images of a person asthey move through.

FIG. 2B is a front perspective view of a guided entry way to a photozone, which a series of alternating overhead cameras at the end of theentry way.

FIG. 3 is a top perspective view of the guided entry way of FIG. 2A,shown leading from an event venue entry through a photo zone leading toan interior of the event venue.

FIG. 4 is a partial top plan view of an interior of an event area withstadium seating.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method for mass spectator event venueentry and item delivery system for facilitating expeditious andcontrolled entry of an influx of people to the event in accordance withan embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of theinvention, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

It will be appreciated that although the platform described below willbe described in relation to a mass spectator sporting event, theplatform and method is applicable to a variety of mass attendance eventswithout limitation to just sporting events. Attendees could bespectators, fans, entrants, delegates, or other authorized persons. Aparticular label attributed to a person depends on the context of theevent they are attending, but the below-described system/platform andmethod is applicable to a wide variety of mass attendance events withoutlimitation to a particular type of mass attendance event, gathering, orsituation.

FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of a platform or system 100 having aprocessor 102, an electronic spectator database 104, and at least onedigital image collection device 106. In use, a digital profile image ofa person is captured and stored in electronic image database 104 priorto the start of the event. The person shows up to the sporting venue theday of the sporting event. An image collection device 106 locatedproximate the sporting event venue entry captures an entry image of theperson, which is compared by processor 102 with the profile image storedon database 104 to identify the person. Once the person is identified atthe sporting event venue, their personal profile is checked for thepresence of a pre-authorisation for event entry, and any selection ofone or more items for procurement and delivery to the person at anallocated seating of the person, all just by moving through the photozone. The preferred elements of system 100 and their interrelationshipare described below.

Referring to FIG. 1 , system 100 is preferably a stand-alone systemwhich may be in communication with a venue intranet, and/or the internetif desired. Processor 102 may be in the form of a microprocessorintegrated with a camera within a camera housing. Processor 102preferably includes a microchip, such as a System on Chip (SoC), withappropriate control circuitry. Processor 102 is preferably programmedwith facial recognition technology so that facial images may be comparedwith each other to ascertain a match. Examples of suitable recognitionalgorithms include 3-D modelling, geometric and/or photometricapproaches, linear discriminate analysis (LDA), support vector machine(SVM), Support Vector Machine-Recursive Feature Elimination (SVM-RFE),pattern matching, dynamic link matching, thermal imaging, and/or elasticbunch graph matching. The details of image recognition technology wouldbe appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art and are thereforenot repeated here for simplicity.

Electronic spectator database 104 is preferably configured with aplurality of user profiles 108 with fields for user identification datasuch as name, address and contact details (electronic and telephone).Each user profile 108 preferably includes a provision for a digitalprofile image 110 for association with each person. Profile image 110 ispreferably a picture that contains at least a facial portion of theperson. Each user profile 108 also preferably includes one of morefields for entry or selection of an item for procurement, and optionaldelivery to any assigned seating of the person. Examples of item(s) thatmay be selected for procurement and delivery include, but are notlimited to, an item of consumable food, a beverage, a souvenir,clothing, an event program, and/or a non-fungible token (NFT), such asan NFT associated with one or more sports personalities. In thesituation where the item is an NFT item, the NFT may be electronicallydelivered to an account associated with the person, either while theperson is attending the event, or at a time after conclusion of theparticular event the person is attending.

A ledger of event entries for each person may be maintained usingblockchain technology if desired. The details of blockchain technologywould be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art.

The potential for misuse of facial recognition is high if not carefullymanaged. The public does not easily trust a large company with the useof private, personal data. To alleviate these legitimate concerns, oneor more aspects of personal profile 108 may be configured toautomatically self-delete after a predetermined amount of time and/orafter a predetermined action or event. For example, one or more aspectsof personal profile 108 may self-delete after a fixed time period of 3days, 1 month, 1 year or 3 years in order to help ensure that a profilepicture is kept up to date, or address privacy concerns, or even oncethe person has been confirmed as having entered into the sporting eventfor the intended day of entry. Profile 108 may self-delete afterconclusion of the event, such as a sporting event in which the personattends.

System 100 further preferably includes at least one digital imagecollection device such as camera 106. The digital image collectiondevice may be any device or means configured to capture a digital image,such as, but not limited to a camera, for example, a stand-alone digitalcamera, a video camera, a thermal camera, and/or a device having anintegrated or component camera, such as a tablet computer, a laptopcomputer, or a mobile communications device such as a smartphone.Digital images captured by the digital image collection device may bestored on a computer-readable storage medium associated with processor102 (for example, hard disk, server, Cloud); and/or a computer-readablestorage medium associated with the digital image collection device;and/or a separate, transferable computer-readable storage medium (forexample, flash drive (USB) or disc). Images may include static images orframes from a video.

Camera 106 may be adapted for depth-detection and may include a laserand/or a 3-D rangefinder to facilitate depth detection.

In use, a person creates a digital personal profile. The person providestheir identity data into predefined fields and uploads a profile pictureto database 104. If the event venue offers items or services forprocurement and/or delivery, the person may select a desireditem/service from a menu, or may otherwise enter an item/service forprocurement/delivery into one or more fields of the personal profile.Selection of the item/service is preferably completed prior to entry ofthe person into the sporting event venue, and more preferably, beforethe person moves through a photo zone (described further below). Oncethe person has established their profile on database 104, the person maytravel to the venue and proceed with the entry/item procurement anddelivery process, detailed further below.

FIGS. 2A and 3 show an entry way configuration through a restricted areaof a sporting event venue. Referring now to FIGS. 2A, 3, and 4 , system100 is shown placed at a stadium 112. Stadium 112 includes one or moreentrances 114. An entryway, isle or chute 116 is placed at the entranceto guide spectators from the entrance towards one or more cameras 106.Chute 116 includes a barrier wall 118 that leads to restricted area 120.Chute 116 preferably includes a gantry 122 at an end furthest away fromentrance 114, e.g., an exit. Gantry 122 includes one or more of cameras106, which may be placed on a pole of the gantry, or separately of thegantry. Chute 116 further leads to a photo zone 124 just prior to gantry122. Photo zone 124 is preferably an area where the spectators pass ormove through while their picture is taken for purposes of a facialrecognition identification (described further below).

It will be appreciated that it is not always practical to position animage collection device directly in the path of an oncoming spectator.Processor 102 may be configured with one or more recognition algorithmssuitable for side, or angled side profiles. Such algorithms may bemodified to compare the distance between a point on the ear (e.g.,concha or lobule) and a point on the eye (e.g., iris), and/or thedistance between a point on the ear and a point on a nose (e.g., tip),and/or a ratio comparing the distance between a point on the ear and eyeand the distance between a point on the ear and the nose. Where opposedcameras are used to capture left side, right side and/or obliqueprofiles of the spectator, the images captured by each camera may eitherbe individually analyzed, or more preferably, merged to generate acomposite image which is analyzed.

FIG. 2B shows a system 200 with an alternative chute cameraconfiguration. Chute 216 preferably includes a series of alternatingcameras 206 positioned along an elevated or overhead position at orproximate an exit of the entryway to capture forward and/or overheadperspective views of a spectator approaching and crossing the entry.Additional cameras may be positioned medially and/or laterally (leftand/or right) of the entryway, and/or forward of the entryway. Proximatethe entryway, one or more cameras may be positioned at a lower elevationso that the digital entry image is captured at an angle below ahorizontal plane intersecting a chin of the spectator, or where desired,below a horizontal plane intersecting a waist of a spectator. Othercamera angles may be used as desired.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4 , once the spectator is identified byprocessor 102, the spectator's personal profile 108 is checked for apresence of an item procurement and delivery, such as food, beverage,souvenir(s), clothing, and/or NFT(s). If personal profile 106 includesinstructions for an item obtainment and/or delivery, then processor 102sends instructions to item preparation module 128 to initiate preparingthe item or article, and then arranging for the item delivery directlyto the spectator's section 132, row 134 and seat 136, which may be at atime preselected by the spectator. Delivery of the item may bephysically achieved by one or more venue employees by travel throughseating area 130 leading to the spectator's seating area. Item deliverymay be achieved in other ways as desired. For example, the use of drones(land and/or air-based) may be used as appropriate, or delivery tospecific sections of the venue where the person may pick up the selecteditem. Electronic delivery may be achieved by sending a link to theperson's electronic account, such as for delivery of an NFT.

As part of the profile stored in database 104, user or spectatorpreferences for items such as food, beverage, souvenirs, and/or NFTs maybe used to enhance fan experience. For example, if a fan desires a beerat a particular time during the game or match, the preference may benoted in the profile so that the item may be provide or delivereddirectly to the fan or spectator at a desired time and location. As afurther example, the fan may desire to have a beer 10 minutes into afootball game or rugby match. The profile may include the preferencedata so that 10 minutes after the official start of the game or match, abeverage service station will commence delivery of the beer to the seat(section, row, seat number) of the fan or spectator. This has theadvantage of eliminating standing in a long line or queue during a gameor match break, and the fan or spectator potentially missing a crucialmoment of the game or match due to standing in a line or queue. Inshort, by including an item pre-selection in the profile, thefan/spectator can “skip the line,” reserving any potential waiting inline to actions such as going to the toilet when necessary.

With appropriate spectator permissions in place, system 100 may beconfigured to identify and track a wearable device on the spectator sothat as the spectator makes their way to their seat in the sportingevent, the system will track the spectator's position along the sportingevent venue. Examples of wearable devices include, but are not limitedto, an RFID chip, a smartphone, a watch, a device insertable in a shoe,and eyewear. The watch may include GPS circuitry and/or a wireless radiotransmitter for network Wi-Fi communications and/or peer-to-peercommunications, as will be further described below. A communicationsinterface forming part of the system may be used to collect data via acommunications means such as satellite, cellular technology, NFC, WLAN,and/or peer-to-peer communications (e.g., Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi Direct)from the spectator as the spectator moves within the sporting venue. Thespectator's movement data may be directly uploaded into the system fromthe spectator's own personal device. Where the wearable device utilisesa peer-to-peer technology such as Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi Direct, sensorswith appropriately configured transceivers may be positioned within thesporting venue as appropriate for the communications range of suchdevices. Examples of suitable sensors include Bluetooth beacons. Thedetails of Bluetooth beacons would be appreciated by those of ordinaryskill in the art and are therefore not repeated here for simplicity.

Where multiple cameras are utilized, the cameras may be adapted to forma wired or wireless peer-to-peer network with each other and/or withprocessor 102. For example, each camera 106 may include a radiotransceiver configured for Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi Direct communicationswith other cameras and/or processor 102.

The identification is preferably made using solely the images of thespectator. Most preferably, the images are matched using facialrecognition technology, the details of which would be appreciated bythose of ordinary skill in the art. An example of an image recognitionregistration system and method is described in PCT Publication No.WO2019/079818, the entire contents of which is incorporated by referenceherein. If desired, more than one category of features may be used aspart of the image recognition process. For example, facial features andat least one non-facial feature may be used to identify a user in adigital image captured during the sporting event. For example, a portionof an article of clothing may be used in combination with a facialfeature to assist in identifying a user as a participant.

System 100 is preferably configured so that as the person moves throughphoto zone 124, camera 106 takes a series of photos of the person, andprocessor 102 is configured to analyze the image series and select animage therefrom that is primarily or best suited for facial recognitionanalysis. The selection is based on a minimum quality threshold thatpreferably includes optical recognition of key facial data points, suchas user eye location relative to user nose and/or cheek bone location.Processor 102 is configured to determine authorized entry and initiateitem preparation/delivery as the person moves through the photo zone.For example, the facial recognition comparison and identification isconducted using the best-determined image from the image series as theperson is moving through the photo zone (using a constantly updatableanalysis of the image series as the image series is being expanded bythe person moving through the photo zone). Once a minimum recognitionthreshold is achieved, and recognition is successful, further expansionof the image series is not needed for a particular identified individualunless used to double-check identification. The minimum threshold may beset at a suitable percentage, such as 90% accuracy, depending upon theaccuracy desired for a particular purpose. High accuracy may be achievedby stationary positioning of individuals for facial recognition, butthis of course greatly impacts efficiency of entrants getting to theirseat on time, and is therefore less desirable.

Other personal features may be used to identify a spectator in instanceswhere the face may be partially or totally obscured. For example, headdimensions (for example, the distance between the ears), the distancebetween the ends of the shoulders, thermal imaging, and/or general bodyshape (for example, torso width and/or body height) may be used to helpidentify a spectator.

Spectator identification may be enhanced by incorporating patternrecognition and machine learning algorithms into the system. Behaviourand non-behaviour features may be analyzed to increase accuracy ofidentification. Examples of behaviour features include past attendancehistory in a sporting event (e.g., a spectator attending in an annualsporting event multiple times), calendar events (e.g., spectator travelperiods, and sporting event type (e.g., NFL football games, rugbymatches, European football (or soccer) matches, etc.). Examples ofnon-behavioural features include biometric data (e.g., age, gender, bodybuild) and geolocation data (residential location, sporting eventlocation). Behaviour, non-behaviour, or any combination behaviour andnon-behaviour features may be used to enhance spectator identification.

The features may be weighted to increase accuracy. For example,attendance history may be given an initial weighting of 50%, geolocationmay be given a weighting of 35%, calendar event(s) given a weighting of10%, and biometric data given a weighting of 5%. Where geolocation isused as a factor, a spectator's residential address (obtained fromprofile 108) may serve as an initial a geolocation point with a fixedradius to define a surrounding target area. Sporting events locatedwithin the target area are given a higher weighting. Sporting eventstending to match the spectator's past type of sporting event attendance(e.g., an NFL football game) are given a higher weighting. Patternrecognition may also be used to weight a spectator's likelihood ofattending a particular event where the spectator has previouslyattended, with increased past attendance at an event being used toincrease the weight given towards a particular event.

As a practical example, if an image of a spectator is captured at thevenue entry, and the image is partially obscured, or the image onlyprovides, for example, a 60% identification accuracy, processor 102 mayutilize an enhanced recognition algorithm with a feature set includingattendance history, geolocation data, calendar event data and biometricdata to increase the accuracy and positive identification rate. Theprocessor may be configured to check whether the individual is alreadyrecognized, and if not, then scan the database for individuals who havea residence within the target area of the sporting event, who haveattended in the current event (if it is a regular or annual event), whohave a history of attending in the same or similar event type anddistance, and biometric features such as gender, age, and body type. Thefeatures may be weighted and varied in order to optimize accuracy (e.g.,geolocation being weighted more than event attendance history).

It will be appreciated that pattern recognition and machine learning maybe implemented through appropriate classifiers, such as an artificialneural network. Support Vector Machine-Recursive Feature Elimination(SVM-RFE), and/or any of the techniques detailed in PCT Publication No.WO 2021/173871, the description of which is hereby incorporated byreference herein, may be applied as appropriate to enhance spectatoridentification. The basic details of machine learning and patternrecognition methods would be understood by those of ordinary skill inthe art and are therefore not repeated here for simplicity.

The platform may be configured, if desired, to detect the approach of aspectator using an electronic identification broadcast from thespectator's wearable device as they approach the photo zone. Upondetecting the approach of a spectator, the platform signals acommunications hub at the photo zone to initiate the image capturingprocess described above. Contact details associated with the electronicidentification broadcast may be provided by the spectator prior to thesporting event via their personal profile.

Having described the preferred components of system 100, a preferredmethod 300 for contactless mass spectator event venue entry and itemdelivery for facilitating expeditious and controlled entry of an influxof people to the spectator event without overwhelming event venueemployees or resources will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1to 5 . The method preferably includes a step 302 of guiding a personthrough chute 116 from entrance 114 of the event venue towards camera106. A facial image of the person is captured as they move or passthrough photo zone 124 along chute 116 in step 304. Thereafter, in step306, the pass-through facial image of the person taken in photo zone 124is compared with the facial image of the person to identify the person.In step 308, it is determined whether the person is authorized to enterthe event venue once identified, by checking, for example, personalprofile 108. Preferably concurrently with step 308, in step 310, an itemdelivery is initiated to the seat allocated to the person once theperson is identified and the person's attendance at the event venue isconfirmed. The allocated seating may include a section number, rownumber, and seat number assigned to the person within the venue, whichis particularly appropriate for stadium seating. If desired, seatallocation within a venue may be supplied to a smart device such as asmartphone after a person's entry into the venue is confirmed.

The foregoing description is by way of example only, and may be variedconsiderably without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Forexample only, the processor may be integrated with the camera within thesame housing as the camera, substantially reducing system errors oropportunities for system disruptions from accidental wiredisconnections. The chute may be configured in a variety of patterns toaccommodate a particular venue entry, and need not be strictly linear inconfiguration. A variety of movements through the chute and/or photozone may be accommodated, such as the person walking, running, or even aperson in movement device/vehicle such as a wheelchair or scooter. For aperson walking through the photo zone, the person is preferably walkingat an ordinary human walking gait. Online resources such as thoseavailable through the Cleveland Clinic or Johns Hopkins Universityprovide information around ordinary human walking gait.

To flag people who may attempt to enter a venue in an unauthorized way,or who remain unidentified due to insufficient image quality, averification bay may be positioned off to the side of the chute afterthe photo zone. Venue personnel may be alerted the presence of anunauthorized or unidentified person, and direct that individual to theverification bay for identification, either with a portable image deviceto take an appropriate facial image, or other device to scan or collectdetails to identify the person and permit passage and entry of theperson to the event. In this situation, the system may use a combinationof free-flowing facial recognition with stationary facial recognition(as a fallback) to identify some individuals for whom the free-flowingfacial recognition has not adequately produced a recognition.

If desired, an item procurement, or additional item procurement, may befacilitated once a person is seated within the venue through use of anApp on the person's smartphone. Procurement may be facilitated throughfacial recognition technology (using the smartphone's camera), and itemdelivery facilitated by the smartphone GPS circuitry, and/or allocatedseating associated with the person.

To enhance security, a bag check may be included with appropriatescanners to detect items brought by visitors to the venue which couldpose a risk to other people at the venue, or attempts by visitors tobring in prohibited items into the venue (e.g., weapons, cameras,recording devices, food and/or beverages, etc.).

The platform may be configured for use with sporting activities otherthan football games, rugby matches, or soccer games. For example only,the platform may be configured for use with sports such as tennismatches, horse races, swimming competitions, or large scale sportingspectator events such as international competitions (e.g., theOlympics). Other mass spectator events include exhibitions, politicalgatherings, speaking engagements, concerts, plays or shows, or any eventwhere a sizeable number of people (e.g., 100 or more people) mightgather. Indeed, in a preferred form, the platform can be adapted tofacilitate efficient entry of tens of thousands of people, withopportunity to deliver pre-selected items at a person's allocatedlocation within a large event venue.

Information or data normally stored at a physical location may be storedin the Cloud, considerably reducing the hardware needed for memoryrequirements often associated with large volumes of data.

The features described with respect to one embodiment may be applied toother embodiments, or combined with or interchanged with the features ofother embodiments, as appropriate, without departing from the scope ofthe disclosure.

The present disclosure in one or more preferred forms provides theadvantages of confirming entry of attendees into a mass attendance eventin a seamless, free-flowing manner and reduced opportunity for error.This permits better allocation of human resources and reduces materialwaste. For example, labor costs are reduced by lessening a need forticket-checkers at all entrances. From an attendee's or spectator'sperspective, more freedom is provided to attend and focus on the eventwithout worrying about standing in long lines for event entry and/orconcession item procurement. Using a single image recognition event forboth venue entry and item procurement significantly reduces timeotherwise needed for various actions, streamlines the entire experience,and reduces expenditure by the venue operator. The contactless nature ofthe system and method reduce disease or viral transmission risk, animportant consideration for mass attendance events during a pandemic.These advantages are particularly pronounced with free-flowing image orfacial recognition. It will of course be appreciated by those ofordinary skill in the art that various benefits and advantages may beobtained without incorporating all elements or features describedherein.

Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from consideration of the specification and practice of theembodiments disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification andexamples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spiritof the invention being indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A ticketless mass spectator event venue entry anditem delivery system for facilitating expeditious and controlled entryof an influx of people to the spectator event without overwhelming eventvenue employees, the system comprising: at least one camera forplacement in a photo zone leading to a limited-access area of thespectator event, said camera being configured to capture a series ofpass-through images of a group of people as they move through the photozone; a detection sensor synced to said camera to initiate image capturewith said camera as at least one person from the group encounters adetection zone to activate said sensor; a user image database configuredto store a profile image of the person prior to commencement of theevent; and a processor configured to: compare the profile image storedin said user image database with the pass-through image of the groupcaptured by said camera using facial recognition technology; determinewhether the person is an authorized entrant as they move through thephoto zone based on the comparison between the profile image and thepass-through image, said processor being configured to analyze the imageseries and select an image therefrom based on a minimum thresholdincluding optical recognition of key facial data points, wherein theminimum threshold is based on a percentage of accuracy, said processorbeing configured to identify the person using only free-flowing facialrecognition technology as a primary method of identification, saidprocessor being configured to use a secondary method of identificationwhere the minimum threshold is not reached; confirming entry of theperson into the event venue as they move towards the limited-accessarea; and concurrently issue an item preparation instruction forpreparation and delivery of an item either directly to the person at anevent seating allocated to the person within the event venue or at aspecific section of the venue where the person may pick up the item, theitem preparation instruction being based on the same comparison betweenthe profile image and the pass-through image used to determineauthorized event entry, combined event entry authorization and itempreparation instructions being actuated just by the person beingsuccessfully identified.
 2. The entry system of claim 1, wherein saidcamera is configured to analyze the image series and select an imagetherefrom that is primarily suited for facial recognition analysis. 3.The entry system of claim 2, wherein the selection is based on a minimumquality threshold including optical recognition of key facial datapoints.
 4. The entry system of claim 3, wherein the key facial datapoints include user eye location relative to user nose and/or cheek bonelocation.
 5. The entry system of claim 1, wherein said processor isintegrated with said camera within a camera housing.
 6. The entry systemof claim 1, wherein the item preparation and delivery involves aconsumable food item or beverage.
 7. The entry system of claim 1,wherein the allocated seating includes a section number, row number, andseat number assigned to the person within the event venue.
 8. A methodfor ticketless mass spectator event venue entry for facilitatingexpeditious and controlled entry of an influx of people to the spectatorevent without overwhelming event venue employees, the method comprising:guiding a group of people through a guided entry way from a venue entrypoint towards a photo zone; taking a series of pass-through images ofthe group as they move through the photo zone with a camera synced to adetection sensor to initiate image capture with said camera as at leastone person from the group encounters a detection zone to activate thesensor; conducting, as a primary method of identification, afree-flowing facial recognition comparison of at least one of thepass-through images of the group with a personal profile image of theperson contained in a personal profile associated with person, as theperson moves towards the limited-access area, the conducting of thefree-flowing facial recognition comparison including determining whetherat least one of the pass-through images meets a minimum thresholdincluding optical recognition of key facial data points, wherein theminimum threshold is based on a percentage of accuracy, the personalprofile including: a pre-authorization for event entry; and data fieldsfor item procurement and item delivery either directly to the person atan allocated seating of the person, or to a specific section of thevenue where the person may pick up the item, after the person enters thevenue; determining the minimum threshold is not reached, and conductinga secondary method of identification; confirming entry of the personupon successful identification of the person, and review of the personalprofile associated with the person attempting to gain entry to thevenue; and concurrently issuing an instruction for delivery of any itemwhich was selected by the person prior to entry of the person throughthe photo zone, combined event entry authorization and item deliveryinstructions being actuated just by the person being successfullyidentified.
 9. The entry method of claim 8, wherein the person's seatwithin the venue is not allocated until after entry of the person intothe event is confirmed by the comparison of the pass-through and profileimages.
 10. The entry method of claim 8, wherein allocation of theperson's seat within the venue is provided to a smart device associatedwith the person.
 11. The entry method of claim 8, wherein the itemprocurement includes selections associated with a consumable food and/orbeverage.
 12. The entry method of claim 8, wherein the conducting of thefacial recognition comparison includes determining a primary facialpass-through image from a series of pass-through images of the person asthey move through the photo zone.
 13. The entry method of claim 12,wherein the determination of the primary facial pass-through image isbased on a minimum quality threshold including optical recognition ofkey facial data points.
 14. The entry method of claim 13, wherein thekey facial data points include user eye location relative to user noseand/or cheek bone location.
 15. The entry method of claim 8, wherein theinstruction for item procurement and delivery is conducted without anyverbal instructions to event venue personnel, and without selection ofthe item while at the event venue.
 16. The entry method of claim 8,wherein the facial recognition comparison is conducted while the personis walking through the photo zone.